Amanah to contest 8 seats in Selangor, open to swaps

Amanah has confirmed that it will contest eight seats in the Selangor state election next month.

Selangor Amanah chairman Izham Hashim said the seats were the state constituencies won by the party at the 14th general election, namely Sabak, Meru, Pandan Indah, Hulu Kelang, Morib, Seri Serdang, Sungai Ramal and Taman Templer.

"We (parties in the coalition government) have already received our respective number of seats. In the current phase, we are open to swapping seats (with other parties in the Pakatan Harapan-Barisan Nasional alliance) but that (process) will depend on mutual agreement.

"So far we have heard (about seat swapping) but there is nothing yet, we still have time... We don't just want to contest but also want to see if we can win at that place," he said at a press conference in Shah Alam yesterday.

He said that seat swapping based on mutual agreement was expected to be completed by the middle of next week.
 
Izham said the party was expected to field 50% new faces in addition to maintaining a 30% quota for female candidates.

"Amanah candidates are expected to be balanced. I can't announce any names yet, but I can tell you there will be a combination of incumbents, new faces and old people who have been given a new lease of life," he said.

Voters in Selangor, Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu, Penang and Negeri Sembilan will go to the polls on Aug 12, following the Election Commission’s decision to hold simultaneous elections in the six states.

Nomination will be held on July 29 and early voting on Aug 8.

There are 56 seats in the Selangor state assembly.